In many wireless communication systems, the user equipment operates in several states, of which two very common states are a connected state and an idle state. The connected state is typically used when the user equipment is communicating information that is being received or transmitted at the user's request, such as for answering or initiating voice or test messaging, performing web browsing, and performing content (images, music, or video, for example) upload or download. The idle state is used when the user equipment does not need to convey such information but is important because the communication system is designed so that the user equipment uses far less power in the idle state. The user equipment in the idle state still communicates with the system for many purposes. Among the purposes are to update the location of the user equipment that is maintained in the fixed network, so that when the network and the user equipment are to be connected, the devices know which network station is most likely to be used. Other purposes are for the network to command the user equipment to enter the connected state, to maintain the system time in the device, and many other purposes. While in the connected state, it is possible in many systems for the user equipment to continue some of the operations that are also performed in the idle state. A problem can arise when the state of the user equipment is logged by the network as the idle state while the user equipment is actually in the connected state. This has the adverse affect of causing excessive battery consumption and can degrade the user experience because the user equipment cannot communicate with the network while its operational state is unsynchronized with the network.
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